Telšiai

Location

Ethnographic region

Telšiai district municipality

Elderate

Telšiai town elderate

Geographic coordinate system

55°59′0″N, 22°15′0″E

General Information

Capital of

Samogitia (unofficial)
Telšiai County
Telšiai district municipality
Telšiai town elderate
Telšiai rural elderate

Population

31,460 in 2001 (12th)

First mentioned

1450

Granted city rights

1791

Telšiai in the evening

Telšiai pronunciation? is a city in Lithuania, with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County, and it is located on Lake Mastis.

Names

Name of Telšiai has also been known to be written in different forms in different languages throughout its history, mostly derivatives of Samogitian dialect Telšė. Some foreign names for the city include German: Telsche, Telschi; Polish: Telsze; Russian: Тельшяй, Тельши, Тяльшяй.

History

Mastis lake is mentioned in various legends and myths. The city was named after the very small rivulet, Telšė which flows into Lake Mastis. A legend has it that a Knight named Džiugas founded the city. Telšiai was first mentioned in written sources around 1450.

During the years of Lithuanian independence, 1918 to 1940, Telšiai grew rapidly. Several girls’ and boys’ high schools, a crafts school and a teacher’s seminary were founded. The Alka museum was built, and several cultural societies were operated.[1]

During the first Soviet occupation, as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Telšiai became infamous for the nearby Rainiai massacre, the mass murder of 79 Lithuanian political prisoners perpetrated by the Red Army in a nearby forest, during the night of June 24-25 1941.

Present day architectural monuments include Telšiai Cathedral.

Jews in Telšiai

The Jewish community was proud of its renowned yeshiva, or rabbinical college. In 1941, the Telshe yeshiva was resettled in Cleveland, Ohio by a group of faculty members who escaped the holocaust. The original yeshiva building still stands in Telšiai.

Under the subsequent Nazi German occupation in World War II, Telšiai's large Jewish population was almost completely annihilated.